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Thread: Book Recommendations

  1. #1731
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    Quote Originally Posted by revchuck38 View Post
    This is just a real quick "Thanks!" to whoever recommended Gene Wolfe's The Book of the New Sun. I just finished it yesterday and really enjoyed it. It took me a little while to get into the rhythm of the writing, but once there it was captivating. Good stuff!
    I love that series. It has a hell of a lot to think about.

  2. #1732
    banana republican blues's Avatar
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    Only 15% in, so too early to make a formal pronouncement, but I'm enjoying a western called "The Sisters Brothers" by Patrick DeWitt.

    Interesting, funny, dark, violent by turns. So far, I'm glad I happened on this gem. You may be as well.
    There's nothing civil about this war.

    Read: Harrison Bergeron

  3. #1733
    Quote Originally Posted by Moylan View Post
    Just finished rereading Waugh's Sword of Honour trilogy for the 8th or 10th time or something like that. Taken as a whole, it may be better than Brideshead Revisited, which I think many people take for granted as Waugh's best. None of the 3 books on their own are at that level, but the trilogy as a whole I think may be. Most of the time. The three novels are Men at Arms, Officers and Gentlemen, and The End of the Battle.

    Actually, one significant difference between these novels and Brideshead is that these are funnier. There are very few laugh out loud scenes in Brideshead, but there are many in Sword of Honour. If I ever start a band, I will push hard to call it Apthorpe's Thunderbox. That will probably not seem hilarious to those who haven't read Men at Arms.

    Anyway, Waugh is--apart from Tolkien obviously--probably the best English writer of last century, and I think the trilogy is underappreciated. So there's my book(s) recommendation.


    Just finishing the first one now, thanks for the tip. You're definitely right about it being funny I was lol a lot.

  4. #1734
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    Total Power - spoilers

    A Mitch Rapp book. A psychopathic electrical genius teams up with Isis to take down the US power grip in such a catastrophic manner that it can't come back up for a year and we all starve and die in the civilization fail. He is partially successful and Mitch and crew finally catch him but the country is severely damaged. Interesting book and it is supposed to be a warning against such an attack.

    The funny thing is that you might think it is just baloney until you see the TX game and the ERCOT guy saying that they just prevented a total grid failure by minutes and that would have taken a year to fix. However, in the book - the way they catch the genius is to announce that since the TX grid is independent, they can get it back up. This infuriates him, so he breaks cover. It is not true they could do it but it suckered in the genius. However, I was amused that the TX grid seems to be so fragile that I wonder if the author is shaking his head.

    Mitch is stuck in a Tesla for a bit and there's no power. Oops. I think if we all go to electric cars, the day will come when POOF on them. Not a good idea.

    I'll skip my view of the TX government as I moved and no longer live there to enjoy their shenanigans.

    Worth a day's read sitting in your chair looking out the window at the snow. We had a transformer nearby blow and it took out power and the Internet for a few hours last night. OMG, no TV!

  5. #1735
    Site Supporter NEPAKevin's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Glenn E. Meyer View Post

    I'll skip my view of the TX government as I moved and no longer live there to enjoy their shenanigans.
    Didn't you move to NY?

    Attachment 68080

    ETA: Not that PA's executive branch is any less of a clown show.
    Last edited by NEPAKevin; 02-25-2021 at 04:19 PM.
    "You can't win a war with choirboys. " Mad Mike Hoare

  6. #1736
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    Book 5 in the Dark Operator series. I couldn't recommend the series any more highly. While Sci-Fi, it is grounded in reality. The audiobook is also well narrated.

  7. #1737
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    I'm a big Neal Stephenson fan, and I was thinking about his latest book "Fall, or Dodge in Hell" (released about 3 years ago).

    In Fall, the first bit of the book is an antagonist faking a nuclear bomb attack on the town of Moab. He hires a person to start tweeting about a mushroom cloud he saw flying over the town. He launches network attacks to knock the town out of the communications grid so it looks like it's not there. He hires people to set up road blocks posing as first responders. The hoax perpetuates for most of a day before some heroes figure out a way to get in contact with the town, but certain people keep the hoax going in social media, perpetuating the idea that there was a cover up.

    Decades later, there is a significant portion of society that still believes the attack happened. There are "Remember Moab" bumper stickers and the like. The undestroyed town of Moab is believed by many to be a reconstruction, and the government somehow managed to clear all the radiation. Essentially, people were so siloed into social media circles that the hoax just never went away.

    It feels pretty real right now, in a bad way.

  8. #1738
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    https://www.amazon.com/dp/1250041902/ref=rdr_ext_tmb

    "The gripping memoir of Navy Cross, Silver Star, Bronze Star, and Purple Heart recipient SEAL Lieutenant Mark L. Donald

    As A SEAL and combat medic, Mark served his country with valorous distinction for almost twenty-five years and survived some of the most dangerous combat actions imaginable.

    From the rigors of BUD/S training to the horrors of the battlefield, Battle Ready dramatically immerses the reader in the unique life of the elite warrior-medic who advances into combat with life-saving equipment in one hand and life-taking weapons in the other. It is also an uplifting human story that reveals how a young Hispanic American bootstrapped himself out of a life that promised a dead-end future by enlisting in the military. That new life begins with the Marines and includes his heroic achievements on the battlefield and the operating table, and finally, of his inspirational triumph over the demons caused by Post Traumatic Stress Disorder that threatened to destroy him and his family."

    Great book, the best I've read so far this year. Compelling and well written. Worth reading just for the quotes at the beginning of each chapter. Example: "The tragedy of war is that it uses mans best to do mans worst - Harry Emerson Fosdick"

    Highly recommend

  9. #1739
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    The Shameless - Ace Atkins

    Slow, boring, cliff hanger to get you to the next book. Full of Southern evil cliches, noble PC sheriff. Of course, the hero is a well trained Ranger. Yawn. Thought I might have found a new series but I'll pass.

    It shows the general effect of series that go on too long.

  10. #1740
    Revolvers Revolvers 1911s Stephanie B's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Glenn E. Meyer View Post
    The Shameless - Ace Atkins

    Slow, boring, cliff hanger to get you to the next book. Full of Southern evil cliches, noble PC sheriff. Of course, the hero is a well trained Ranger. Yawn. Thought I might have found a new series but I'll pass.

    It shows the general effect of series that go on too long.
    I read the first couple of the Spenser books, since he took over the series after Robert Parker died 11 years ago. They felt a little...off. I can understand a family wanting to keep milking their cash cow, but I really do appreciate that Sue Grafton's family didn't do that.
    If we have to march off into the next world, let us walk there on the bodies of our enemies.

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